Windows File Protection Message

After installing a number of applications to my new Windows XP Pro system, I now get the following message on occassion:

Windows File Protection: (I'm paraphrasing here...) "Files necessary for Windows to run properly have been replaced by unrecognized versions. Place your Windows CD in the drive and click YES to replace these files. "

I now get this message twice upon bootup, but the system seems to be running fine. I have NOT acted upon it yet because when I put the Windows CD in the drive the only option I seem to get is to reinstall Windows. If I do that will I have to re-install all of my applications again?

One other wrinkle, it was suggested to me on a Windows newsgroup to run SFC/SCANNOW off of the Windows CD. I can't find that file on the CD, but did find and run it from with the System32 subdirectory. A DOS window popped up very briefly, but other than that nothing seemed to happen, and I still get the message.

One more wrinkle: I run Goback3. If I re-install some Windows files, do I need to disable Goback3 first? (I know this would be required for a complete Windows re-install....)

Thanks!
Bert

 

Still Getting the Error Message.....

Thanks for the reply, Pete. I ran SFC /scannow both with GoBack running, and then again after disabling Goback. ....and I still get the same error message.

Both times, it took about 20 minutes to get thru SFC with many instances of me having to hit "Retry ", but it went thru the entire process both times.

Any further thoughts?

 

What you may have to do is similiar to other Windows

Put the XP CD in and when the menu comes up select EXIT.

Run SFC / SCANNOW and then when it asks for a location point it to;

[CRDOM Letter ]:/i386

For example D:\i386

I believe that is where the files are located.

In 98 it was D:\WIN98.

BillyBob

 

If you have a GoBack restore point from before you started seeing the error, revert to it and your problems should vanish unless you have a hard drive problem of some sort.

If not, try the following
- Housecall and run a scan
- Open My Computer, right-click, and select properties then run Disk cleanup and delete all the stuff it finds.
- start~run~cmd then chkdsk /r, answer Yes, and reboot.
- start~run~sfc /purgecache

Even if you have a good GoBack restore point, I'd still suggest the chkdsk /r after the restore.

 

Quote from GoBack Help...
"whenever you disable GoBack, all the history that GoBack has been tracking will be lost. In other words, you will not be able to revert your disk or retrieve old versions of a file prior to the time you disable GoBack ".

 

Oops. Nice catch Dennis L. I missed that he'd turned it off.

 

Problem Solved

Guys, Thanks for all of the suggestions, but FWIW I solved the problem.

I neglected to mention that I had "tweaked" my system by disabling a number of services. I read up on some of these services and found that by reverting the "Cryptographic Services" to default (Automatic), it suppresses these erroneous pop-up messages.

It seems that this service confirms signatures of Windows files. After disabling it, you may always get a dialog box complaining about uncertified drivers. So, I just "un-disabled" it, and it worked!

Just a tip that perhaps someone else can use.

Thanks again, guys.

 

Thanks BRH, I had the same problem. I also recently went through my services and disable ones i thought i didn't need.

 

Put the i386 folder on your hard drive

For what it's worth, if you run sfc /scannow with any frequency, you might find it handy to copy the i386 folder from your XP CD to a folder on your hard drive.

Then, using either version of TweakUI, 1.33 or 2.10 (XP) open the the My Computer section and, in the Special Folders window, select Installation Path, click on the Change Location button and browse to the i386 folder on your hard drive.

You can also directly edit the registry by opening HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup and editing the SourcePath string to reflect the location of the i386 folder. Also open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion and edit the same string.

After doing this, you won't have to bother with locating your XP CD when you want to do a system file check.

 

Hi Jim: You know, I'd love to change the installation path, 'cause I install everything on "D" and have to change each drive path individually. But, my copy of Tweak UI for Windows XP, under special folders, does not have a selection for "Installation Path" Hmmm, I feel cheated.

Martin

 

Hey, Bob ...

Are you absolutely certain? (I'm sure you are. )

On my TweakUI 2.10, under My Computer > Special Folders, Installation Path is the 5th item listed, between Favorites and My Documents.

You don't show it at all? If not, try editing the registry as I suggested.

Let me know, OK?

 

martinr121

Downloaded / Installed XP TweakUI 2.10 early April... has "Installation Path ". You could try downloading the current copy. If problem continues, I still have the install .exe, can email it... 147 KB file.

 

Bob ...

Dennis may have a point. If you have TweakUI 2.01 (the original XP version), it may not have Installation Path included in the Special Folders ... I don't recall. In any event, you can download 2.10, the current version, from the link in my earlier post.

 

Nope. Not me. I am not pointing sfc at a file on my hard drive, I'll stick to the cd, thank you. I don't run sfc for maintenance, just for diagnostics. If a problem is so bad that I need to verify Windows, I do not want the source file to come from an unknown, i. e. the hard drive. If I have to run an SFC, everything is suspect, until proven otherwise.

And there are two TweakUI programs. One is in the Control Panel, and one is in the All Programs (that's the XP one) if you installed with default settings. The downloads say to uninstall the older version, but they live happily together, and each does tweaks the other does not. I have found that if you do run both TweakUI programs, if you have a problem, you should check to see that certain shared settings match. The XP one will be the default tweak in most cases, but there are a couple exceptions I'm aware of, maybe more.

Martin, just right click and "move" the folders. Or use the pretty blue "what do you want to do?" screen! LOL You don't need TweakUI to move these folders in XP, and XP will find them on D. (The only thing I can't seem to get to default to D are scans from my piece of junk HP printer!) Just move your Favorites folder, "My Docs ", which includes My Pics and My Music etc, and OE, and your WAB, etc. to folders on D (or wherever you keep stuff like that) How is Catastrophy, anyway? Is she still carrying on with the Microwave?
Johanna

 

As Usual, not on this machine. I uinstalled old Tweak UI for Windows XP, downloaded and installed version 2.10, No "Install Path" in special folders. On top of that, the Icon is in documents and settings, no longer available in control panel as it was, also gone from add-remove programs listing.

AARRRRGH!

Martin

 

Hi Johanna: I'm happy to report that Catastrophy and the dishwasher are getting along famously. I see wedding bells in the future. Since they are both female however, I'll have to transport them to Massachusetts for the ceremony.

When I first set up this machine, I installed a few programs on "C ". I then subsequently created an additional "Programs" file on "D" where the vast majority of my programs now reside with the exception of those early installs. So I have a "Programs" file on "C" and another one on "D" I was not aware that you could change the location of the so called "special folders ".

Then I discovered the Right click "Move" with contents by reading the Tweak UI menu. But, since I already had a "Programs" file on "D" I was worried that if I right click moved the "C" "Programs" file to "D" it would really mess things up, with a message saying: "there is already a programs file at this location, do you want to overwrite it?" or worse, overwriting without message.

Or right click move program one at a time to "D ". Then I thought, will Windows see and run those programs from "D "? And what will happen to the various shortcuts I have sprinkled here and there around the machine. Will they be able to find the program that was moved?

So, with those trepidations and doubts, I left things alone. It works fine, just that each time I install something I have to manually change the installation path for the program to reside on "D" But if I could use Tweak UI for Windows XP to change the installation path, I could eliminate one minor annoyance, leave the two program files alone and get on with my life.

Can you tell me what would happen if I right click moved the "C" programs file and dumped it on top of the "D" programs file?? If that went OK, changing the shorcut paths would not be a big deal.

Or right click move all of the individual program files to "D ", would Windows be able to figure out what happened after I deleted the empty "C" "Programs" folder?

Martin

 

Martin,
Some programs like to latch onto XP in "C ", most don't care. If I were going to move program files around on Catastrophy, I think I would uninstall them, reboot and reinstall them, individually, on D. If I didn't want to spend that much time, I would move them one at a time (You can also toggle that folders button and click "move ", same as a right click "move ") I would not move or delete the C Programs file completely. For one thing, Programs will probably come back, and for the second, some of the programs I run from D put bits and pieces in the "Program" file on C anyway. If your OS partition needs redone, you will have to repair or reinstall those programs anyway. I have been lucky, with some programs, to get away with just installing "overtop" after I've had to wipe out "C ". In an ideal install, I put nothing on C except the OS and the Security software, but, hey, this is real life, and I have a little less than a gig of apps and proggies living happily on C, which could be reinstalled from D, should the need arise.

Sorry about the freight charges to Mass., but it will be a cold day in Georgia before they allow that kind of thing down there! What flies in Atlanta will not play in Cordele or Albany or Cochran!

Now I'm off to my Tweakoholics Anonymous meeting, you know, the one where you have to stand up and say, "My name is Johanna, and I can't quit my freakin' tweakin'!" I'm on the longest install of XP, ever, 8 months! The other day I almost wiped it, just for housecleaning, but I've grown used to the way it is set up, and it works just fine... well, you know the feeling! So I spent more time trying to correct one insignificant problem (Winkey + e doesn't work anymore! ) than it would have taken to start fresh. And Winkey + e STILL isn't working...sigh. And I would have never noticed it had quit working if a post hadn't prompted me to play, and now I can't leave it be, because I know it USED to work just fine! So, it's back to the T. A. (Tweakers Anonymous) meetings, and the twelve step program for me.

Cheers from Ohio!
Johanna

 

Martin ...

I understand your quandry about moving folders from your programs folder on C: to the one on D:, but I have the answer for you.

Email me, and I'll send you COA2 (Change Of Address, v2), one of the small utilities (500 KB) that PC Magazine used to make freely available, until they began charging for them last year. (Fortunately, I downloaded it, and many others, while they were still free.)

COA2 doesn't move files/folders for you, but it corrects the paths in shortcuts, .ini files, and the registry after you move them (or change their name). I've been using it for years, and it works beautifully.

I've always created a Programs folder on the D: partition immediately after installing an OS, then copied everything from C:\Program Files to D:\Programs. After running COA2 I delete C:\Program Files. Unlike Johanna, I don't have a Programs folder on C:, nor do I have any programs that try to write to anything other than the registry on C:. If a poorly written program installer insists on creating a C:\Program Files folder and installing to it, it's an easy matter to move the app's folder to D:\Programs and correct the paths with COA2.

Let me know if you want it.